BACK sept 30 2008 1 approaching the corner of my street i see a guy sitting in the shade of a building listening to a hand crank radio. automated government weather radio still broadcasts, getting it's power from solar panels. there are only a handful of technicians left who know how to fix the solar panels when they over load. these techs live in compounds, protected by the milatary and are given food and water for their families. from the little radio comes, "6:00 a.m. current temperture, 90degrees. today's high should reach 140. warmer tomorrow. the elderly and those with ..." the man turns the radio off. no matter, i know the rest of this familiar warning message anyway. i walk by the local market. it looks like it was looted again. who knows why, they have had no food for weeks, months. i look in and see a ragged sunburnt woman in the aisle of the store. ripping up an empty cardboard fruit carton, she stares at the graphic of a jucy orange on the label of the box. drooling she puts the paper in her mouth. in the mid west, last summer's searing heat left fall's harvest scorched and burnt. the winter temps at the polar caps never dipped below freezing. like atlantis, new york and long island are gone, completely covered by the rising tide. some of manhattan's skyscrapers rise out of the water and make an eerie venice. same on the west coast, the rocky mountains, now the rocky islands. the soaring greenhouse effects have come on so fast, just a year ago everything was fine. it's only april, but already countries near the equator smell like church chicken bar-b-ques as animals actually bake in the noon day sun. the tropic seawater tempature is approaching 200 degrees. this summer's sun will bring it to boil. i will not wait any longer. entering my building, i unlock my apartment door. "wake the kids, bring them to the roof", i tell my wife. taking a small metal box from behind the couch, i go out into the hall and head up the building's stairs. 2. pushing the big metal roof door open, i look around. the low walls of the flat roof enclose a sculpture garden. there are crazy metal benches and abstract statues. i transformed the simple roof garden by bringing each of these pieces here. some thought my metal sculptures were beautiful. others shook their heads and murmured 'modern art'. it didn't matter. the things i had carefully arranged on the roof were not statues, not bizarre stainless steel furniture. they were my out. i take the box from under my arm and carefully set it aside. taking the largest park bench, i flip it over and drag it to the center of the roof. i get the 2 smaller benches, put then next to the first and fastened the three together. the pieces shape an elongated bowl. this vessle is just big enough for my family and some supplies. i collect the smaller sculptures from the garden and connect them inside the shell. i pick up the little box and stroke it's smooth surface. cradling it under my arm, i step back into the craft and pray my calculations are correct. i lock the little engine into place. the family comes out onto the roof. my wife looks at the ship, she looks at me, she looks at our kids. she looks at the early morning sun. knowing little of my plan, she scans the situation and quickly understands. i will not go without her. i hold my breath. 3. her eyes say yes. i breath. i hand her 2 kid sized mylar bags. "take off their clothes and put these over them. zip them just to the necks for now." taking the space suits, she kneels to dress the kids. going to the bowl of a shiny oval bird bath, i lift it off it's pedestal, flip it over and place it over the ship's rim. i connect it to the hinges, and inspect it's seal. satisfied, i open the new cover and get back into the ship. my wife hands the suited children up to me. i strap them to the floor. only their little faces peek out. i step back down onto the roof and take out 2 bigger shiny suits. "i have one for you too." i hole up the shiny bag. she looks around then strips. she puts out her hand for the suit. i pull her towards me. kicking off my shoes and pants, i move with her to the ground. we make love. 4. finished, i want to linger, but i already feel the intense heat of the morning sun. i push myself to my knees. like we were shown in reproduction class, i put her legs on my shoulders. she giggles. i try to stand up, to lift her upside down. "no, you'll hurt your back. put me down." i do, then boost her into the ship. i hand her the suit. she wiggles into it. i close the straps to her seat and like the children, only her face shows. "and where's your suit," she asks "i have mine," i say as i hold it up. "i'll put it on after i seal yours." in i climb. i scan the panel and flip a switch. a hum starts. i turn back and puff up the children's suits with as much air as i can get in them, then pull the flaps over and zip lock them shut. i move quickly to my wife and seal her suit shut. she cannot see thru the mylar bag. she says "now put yours on." "no talking, you'll use up your air. here, here, i have mine. i'm putting it on now." i crinkle the shiny fabric of my suit in the air. knowing i can not seal my own suit from inside, the mylar bag is useless to me. i toss it out of the ship. watching it flutter to the ground i think, "they'll be ok and maybe me too." getting frantic about wasting not a second i close the cover. i jump into my seat and snap the belt. seeing my reflection in the shiny metal cover, i stab the last switch. 5. the engine comes alive. i am squished into the seat. i watch my reflection blur, then seem to slow down. so slow now, clicking single frames. now just a still photograph. "boy, you're some ugly dude," i think. like shifting from first to second gear, the engine changes pitch. the frames of my face start clicking backwards. i feel my thoughts move from behind my eyes to down in my neck. the ship vibrates. slowly rising in pitch, the engine hums. my senses become sharper. a stunning pain passes over me. my thoughts simplify. i don't know where i am but i know i would do anything to protect the others here. a grizzly apes face looks back at me from my reflection. i growl at it. 6. in a flash, the ship is out of the galaxy. my hands hurt as my thumbs pull back. claws sprout. the pitch of the motor rises and shifts again. in seconds the ship is parcepts away from earth. exposing my webbed fins, my shoes fall to the floor. starting from my crotch, my pants tear as my legs fuse together. the ship senses the boundary of the universe and automatically noses up. i feel the sides of my neck rip open as sweet oxygen fills my gills. like being stuck inside a emense globe, the ship careens along the inner surface of the universe. centrifugal force exponentially increases the ship's speed. saint elmo's fire surrounds the ship. my body skinnies itself into a cellouse stalk. i sprout leaves. taring thru the fabric of time, concussion waves trail the ship. passing galaxies like fence posts,we circle the universe. i become green algae. then euglena. 7. if x is greater than (e times phi times (6.32 log 9 / .00091)) then return. it is. the engine shifts. in an explosion of power the ship rips away from the grip of inertia. we roller coaster drop. the cover begins to bend inward. if even a pinhole in the seal appears, we will be sucked thru it, extruded out as atoms on the other side. there is nothing i can do. the seal holds. the engine disengages. we slingshot back towards earth. piercing the atmosphere, the ship glows white hot as it hurdles towards the exact spot were it started from. emerging from beneath the clouds we fly towards a large lake. like a skimming stone, the long angle of the approach makes the ship skip off the surface of the water. hitting the mud on the edge of the lake it carves a half mile path through the brush. it skids to a stop. the damp vegetation is singed. it crackles from the heat, but does not catch fire. exposing it's pitted and burnt exterior, the ship's white brilliance fades. 8. inside, only the popping of the cooling metal is heard. a small screen comes on. my voice blares from the speaker. "jill, jill, tear your suit open. jill, jill, tear your suit open. it will rip, tear at it right away. open the kids suits right away. hurry, you'll suffocate. tear your suit open." dazed, my wife recovers and understands the message. wildly she attacks the fabric of her suit. ripping through, she undoes her seat belt. over the speaker again, "the children, the children, tear them out." her face goes ashen as she sees the pile of clothes under my seat belt. the speaker continues, "when all the suits are open, push the red button. the message repeats, jill, jill, tear your suit open. jill, jill tear your suit open. it will rip, tear at it right away. open the kids suits right away. hurry, you'll suffocate. tear your suit open." she rushes to the children. one in each hand she tears at their bags. they begin screaming crying. she pulls the fabric away from their faces. "when all the suits are open, push the red button. jill, jill rip your suit open." the message starts over. she sees the red button and presses it. the message changes. "i do not know what condition i will be in after our journey. or if even, i will be. if i was right, the ship has brought us back in time. we are in the same place, but back maybe a minute, or maybe many melania. the ship's power should last for years. there is food and supplies in the hatches. there are seeds in the storage bin and tanks to mix water. there also are weapons. the screen can show the different compartments and how to operate them. all the instructions are here. push the red button to repeat them. i love you and will always be with you." she looks down and weeps into my clothes. she bundles them up. seeing a bin marked tools, she opens it and finds a small shovel. unlatching the ships cover and holdin the handle ready to slam it back shut, she cracks the hatch open and sees a beautiful blue sky. a breeze puffs fresh air at her. she pushes up the cover a bit more. there is lush greenery, birds of every description. opening the hatch all the way, she sees that their in a quiet woods. exhausted, the children dose. she takes my clothes and the shovel and slides out of the ship. amazed at the natural beauty, she selects a spot near a rock by the shore of the lake. she digs a little hole. she shakes out my clothes to fold them. my single cell is flung out the leg of my pants. i land in the peaty soil. she puts the clothes into the hole and returns the dirt. praying, she stands for a long time until a gentle drizzle breaks her trance. she makes her way back to the ship and pulls closed the cover. i take a big drink of rain and nuzzle down into the warm dirt.